Viola Davis received the coveted Cecil B. DeMille Award prior to the 2025 Golden Globe Awards, which honours the year’s biggest films and television shows.

The actress, 59, was honoured at the Golden Gala: A Celebration of Excellence at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, on Friday, January 3. The Cecil B. DeMille Award honours the late director’s remarkable contributions to the world of entertainment. Since its inception in 1952, the award has been granted to 69 individuals, with Davis being the 70th laureate.

“I was born into a life that just simply did not make sense. I didn’t fit in. … I just wanted to be somebody. I wanted some of those little gold nuggets,” Davis remarked while accepting the award, per Variety. “What I had was magic. I was curious. I could teleport — I could take myself out of this worthless world and relieve myself of it at times.”

Davis went on to state that her “curiosity” led her to start her acting journey. “I had enough curiosity to know that not only could I perform magic and inhabit these people, but I knew what they could give me,” she explained. “What could I find in all these lives that could somehow rain down those gold nuggets from Gordo and give to me and to make my life make sense.”

Davis ended her speech on a heartfelt note, stating that her younger self would be “squealing” at her accomplishments. “She’s standing behind me now, she’s pulling on my dress. She’s wearing the same red rubber boots that she wore rain or shine because they made her feel purdy,” she told attendees. “She’s squealing. She’s saying one thing. She says ‘Make them hear this.’ What she’s whispering is: I told you I was a magician.”